Beginning Feb. 1st each year, a seasonal wildlife closure will be in effect on Redgarden Wall in Eldorado Canyon State Park to protect nesting and roosting sites of the canyons falcons. The closure is in effect through July 31st unless lifted early due to early fledging or inactivity.

Raptor Closure:​Shirt T​ail Peak is CLOSED to all activities, including rock climbing, effective immediately to protect Golden Eagles nesting in the area. The closure is federally mandated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Description

This is one of the mega-classics in Eldo. Start on the same ledge as for the Yellow Spur, but down to the south.

P1. Climb the 5.9 or 5.6 variation up a right dihedral to a big belay ledge.

P2. Awkward and tough 5.9 moves past a bulge lead to easier rock above. Look for the bolted belay up and right of a slanted ledge before the obvious dihedral which is the crux of the route.

P3. The routes technical crux. 5.11b dihedral with some difficult stemming and interesting finger locks. It can be protected well with small cams and nuts. There is some great exposure on this one.

P4. The routes mental crux. 5.11a overhanging crack through a big ceiling. This is done with very solid jams and jugs, as well as great pro. Just plug the cams and go! If this pitch doesn't get you pumped by the amazing climbing and exposure, you should be a BASE jumper or fighter pilot. This is truly a wonderful and tough climb.

After topping out, downclimb to the north and west to find a rappel tree which can get to the ground in one or two rappels depending on if you have two ropes or not.

Protection

Bring a standard rack for Eldorado Canyon. The old pins that used to protect the dihedral crux are no longer there so bring some small Aliens and TCUs. Second and third pitches have bolted belays. Also, bring lots of hand-sized cams for the overhanging, crack pitch.

One key piece of beta that might save yourself a lot of time and aggravation: set up your belay right after the roof on the final pitch. Otherwise the rope is almost guaranteed to get stuck in the crack and your 2nd will have to prusik. I've seen this happen myself and heard many similar tales of woe. Luckily I had the beta myself and didn't have to deal with the problem.

This is good advice, however, the slot above the roof is very wide so you need to take some appropriate gear. Alternatively, run up to the end of the slot and set up a belay but have the leader clip their rope in high and work back to the end of the slot. This saves dragging along some very wide gear that is otherwise not needed.

Chris "the Duece" Dawson & I watched some poor saps in front of us struggle for about an hour trying to free their snarled line from the jaws of the roof crack. At the time (May 2001) there was a fixed nut right at the lip of the roof that would align your rope perfectly to get snagged when clipped. When I led, I placed a big cam (#3 camalot I think) immediately above the roof on the easier terrain & then reached down & unclipped the fixed nut. I had no problem at all with pulling the rope. I'd highly recommend removing any pro at the lip before you finish the pitch. Placing pro to the right like Joe suggests is also an excellent idea.

There is currently one fixed pin on the crux pitch and on 07/15/02 there was also a fixed nut just below the pin. The fixed nut mentioned in the comments above for the top of the final pitch is no longer there. The whole route protects well with singles of nuts, TCUs, and cams up to a #2 Camalot.....

The fixed pin is still on the 3rd pitch, the nut is not. It's easy to back the pin up with a green alien. On the 4th pitch, there is some webbing jammed in the crack about midway, that's currently the only "fixed" gear.

I'll echo what everyone has said about the rope getting stuck in the crack easily. Thanks to the comments on this site, we delt with the rope travel before it became a problem. If you don't deal with it it will get stuck.

This is a sick route, but after two years of wanting to do I think in my case I just made it out to be more than it really was. I guess I just wish the roof was another 15 ft long. However, I would settle for 5ft, it is that much fun! You can't beat the exposure. Hanging from the jug before the lip of the roof, getting a shake. Look between your legs. All you see is an awsome line. An overhanging Dihedrial, filled with all sorts of cool gear, then your belayer hanging off some bolts. Below them nothing but air for a real long way. My advice just go do the damn thing. Easier then the Edge! Woo Weee

One of the best routes in Eldo.The difficulty comes from the dihedral pitch, not from the roof pitch. The difficulty being more [dependent] on temperature and humidity than on any other subjective factor. This is presuming that shorter climbers also have better-suited thin fingers. The final roof is not so hard for experienced "steep" climbers, but slab masters might find some trouble turning the lip. The gear on the top half is "as you would like it"- that is to say, if you have the endurance, you can get overhead gear wherever you like and it's solid. Lastly, I think that the "awkward bulge" on the second pitch is awkward enough to merit the 5.10 grade rather than 5.9. Place protection before just getting there to reduce leg-shake once there. I made the mistake of running it out into that position last time I got on it. Yuck.

Climbed this yesterday for the first time and it was amazing. While sitting on the belay watching my partner make his way up the second dihedral I noticed a line to the left on the overhanging arete. I was wondering what the rating and name is of this pitch is, if different than Vertigo?

Fantastic route! On the dihedral pitch, there is a fixed cam down low, a fixed nut, a pin, and another fixed nut. The fixed pieces sew up the crux section very nicely. And on the roof section, there is a large, fixed chock that has been slung and a 0.5 Camalot at the lip. The 0.5 will definitely hold some falls! Awesome!

As of 06/07, the slung chock (See Dane's comment) is still there. Fixed 0.5 is not. One pin left on the dihedral pitch. I suppose a person could run 1 and 2 together, if so inclined, but, however you do it, every pitch on this climb is simply spectacular!

This is the first route which has let me down at Eldo. I found the dihedral pitch to be a short one-move-wonder with fixed pin & stopper for the move. The roof pitch is CHOSS. The last flake on the roof flexes alot plus it's a jug haul to another one-move-wonder. Don't understand the hype.

This is a great climb. Almost onsighted the dihedral but fell trying to reach for what would have been basically a bomber jug. Cruised the second time. There is one pin in the dihedral which can be backed up with yellow and blue TCUs. Flailed on the roof pitch because of rope issues. Don't place gear at the lip or if you do, remove it after you get past it because your rope will trap it and your second will make .11a look like .12a, especially if it's snowing....

The webbing in the roof looked like it was around a fixed stopper (just the stopper no wire). That being said I decided to plug a cam next to it, since there was bomber gear to be found everywhere on the roof.

Today it was way too windy on the fifth pitch for us. It was way too cold to be enjoyable. We bailed off the fourth pitch and left a nineteen g carabiner on the pin in the crux. Whoever gets it, have fun with it :-)

Such a fun climb. I recommend linking pitches 1 and 2, watch the rope drag though. Also when pulling over the lip, make sure to keep the hand jam next to the jug free of gear, otherwise it makes it a lot harder for shorter people.

On the second pitch, there is currently a purple c4 with a biner above the bulge, buried in a crack. It was about 35 degrees out, so I was trying not to get the barfies - I didn't try for long - but a good angler could get it out with two nut tools and a bit of effort. Quality route, so happy to have gotten on it!

I was almost killed on this route by rock fall in ''99. It took me 17 years to return, only to find loose blocks on the last pitch leaving the ledge. Also, most importantly, the huge death flake in the roof is just that, a DEATH FLAKE. This route is toted as one of the safer 5.11s in the park. It is just a matter of time before someone pulls or kicks the giant flake off into their chest, cleaning out the scores of people below. Not recommended.